Costa del Sol - Spain
Tourist information & accommodation
B&B, Hotels and Hostels in Costa del Sol, Andalucía, Spain.
Photo by Víctor Ovies
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The Costa del Sol is a region which comprises the coastal towns and
communities in the western part of
Málaga
province in the south of Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. The
name translates to "Sun Coast" in English. Formerly a series of quiet fishing
settlements, the region has been completely transformed since the latter part of
the 20th century into a tourist destination of world renown, with a
near-continuous urban agglomeration of settlements and resorts running along the
length of the coastline. It consists of the area west of the city of Málaga and east of the border with Cádiz province, along the Mediterranean coastline. It includes the towns of Torremolinos, Benalmádena, Fuengirola, Mijas, Marbella, San Pedro de Alcántara, Vélez-Málaga, Nerja, Torrox, Puerto Banús and Estepona.
Settlement in the region dates back to the Bronze Age, and it has been alternatively ruled by many cultures such as the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Visigoths and Moors, before the Reconquista. Traditionally composed of fishing villages, the area was discovered for international tourism in the 1950s and has since been a popular destination for foreign tourists not only for its beaches, but also its tourist culture. The area is heavily urbanised, with a thick ribbon of densely-packed buildings running along most of the coast. Architectural styles are a mixture of low-rise, whitewashed villas and much high-rise development, especially among the tourist resorts, much of it unsympathetic to the geography.
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